The Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition has called for an international mediator to be brought in to try to resolve the Drumcree parade dispute in Portadown.

Speaking after an 80-minute meeting with the Parades Commission, the coalition warned the dispute could take "months" to resolve.

The Orange Order wants to parade along the mainly-nationalist Garvaghy Road area on Sunday afternoon.

It is one of the most contentious parade routes in Northern Ireland.

The Parades Commission has begun a series of meetings as it weighs up whether to allow the march to go ahead this weekend.

The Garvaghy Road Residents Coaltion, Loyalist Communities Council (LCC), SDLP and Alliance party were among those to meet the commission on Tuesday.

Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition spokesperson Breandán Mac Cionnaith described the current mediation process on offer as "flawed".

He said an international figure from "outside Ireland" was required.

Asked if he received any indication from the commission about which way their decision would go, he said he got none.

The Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) described its meeting with the commission as "frank but constructive".

LCC chairman David Campbell, who said the commission's "credibility had long ago expired", said it was "grossly unjust and partisan" not to allow the parade to take place.

Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, who is acting as an adviser to Portadown District Orange Lodge, said he welcomed that the residents coalition was prepared to engage in mediation but warned it must be a genuine attempt to find an agreement.

Bryson said: "The Portadown District will talk to anybody if they want to talk between now and the weekend to see if something can be worked out.

"The Portadown District stands ready to do that - but this cannot be used as a delaying tactic."

SDLP leader Claire Hanna however said there was "no appetite" for the parade to take place.

"Residents do not want old wounds reopened, community relations damaged or further disruption caused. These are all factors the Parades Commission must take into consideration."

Alliance, who also met with the commission, said progress made since 1998 needs to be "preserved" and that efforts to jeopardise it were concerning.

"There are actors in the background, trying to stir division and reopen old wounds," said assembly member Eoin Tennyson.

"They are picking at a scab with a chainsaw, they have no vision for our shared present or the kind of shared future we want to build."

Members of the Portadown district of the Orange Order are due to speak to the commission on Wednesday.

Political parties including Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are also expected to talk to the commission before it makes its final decision on the planned parade.

Although the commission is due to begin its deliberations on Wednesday, it could take 24 to 48 hours for its written determination to be published.

Both sides in the dispute have been offered a mediation process to try to find a solution.

A Belfast-based organisation TIDES Mediation NI was appointed last week by the commission.

In a statement they said: "If any party is not comfortable with the mediators that has to be respected and understood."

The Orange Order has accepted their offer to begin engagement.

At the start of this month, the order announced plans for a "limited" parade at Drumcree.

Instead of 400 people and two bands taking part, only 60 members would march along the Garvaghy Road in silence on Sunday 27 September.

The parade is due to start at 1pm at Drumcree Church and finish at Carleton Street in Portadown town centre by 2.30pm.

The Drumcree parade dispute began in the mid-1990s and it almost derailed the peace process at the time.

Violence related to the dispute resulted in riots, roadblocks and murders.

When the Orange Order was prevented by police from walking down the route in July 1995 there was a tense stand-off. It was the same for the next three years.

The Parades Commission began operating in 1998 to regulate parades and try to defuse tension around marches.

Its decision not to allow a march down the Garvaghy Road that summer has been challenged by the order for the past three decades.